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Kai Shiden
is one of the supporting characters in the Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam ''television series, the ''Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Day After Tomorrow - From Kai Shiden's Report manga and the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVA. Personality & Character Kai was a sarcastic and cynical individual. His attitude remained poor throughout the One Year War and was often tempted to abandon the White Base altogether.Simmons, Mark and Wright Benamin (2002) Animerica Gundam Official Guide (p.20) However, Miharu's death marked a turning point in Kai's development as he worked through his grief and came to care more for his friends. Kai became galvanized and his cowardice mostly disappeared; this combined with his accrued combat experience made him a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the war. Skills & Abilities Following training, Kai Shiden went into action as a RX-77-2 Guncannon pilot. History One Year War At the onset of the One Year War in UC 0079, Kai Shiden lived in the space colony Green Oasis in Colony no. 1 of Side 7. Kai Shiden is tall and lanky in stature with a mop of gray hair, and his snarky and sarcastic personality often gets him scolded or slapped around. After surviving the Zeon attack on Side 7, Kai evacuated to the Pegasus class assault carrier SCV-70 White Base to make his escape. However, due to a shortage of crew and soldiers to staff the battleship Kai was asked to become a pilot to help defend the White Base from the frequent Zeon attacks. Kai was assigned to pilot the RX-77-2 Guncannon mobile suit, the unit he would remain in charge for the rest of the One Year War. A natural coward, cynic, and pessimist Kai could often be found hiding on the sidelines making smart-alecky comments. His fighting style leaned towards bombarding foes with the Guncannon's long-range armaments, but when he got in a fix he had shown that he was able to pull off hand-to-hand attacks with the Guncannon. However, Kai quickly became disenchanted with war and he decided to desert the White Base when it was docked for repairs in Belfast, Ireland. Outside of Belfast, Kai met a young girl named Miharu Ratokie, and agreed to sneak her onto the White Base and took her to the Earth Federation headquarters in Jaburo, located along the Amazon River in South America. But unbeknownst to Kai, Miharu was actually a hired Zeon spy sent to infiltrate the White Base and discover Jaburo's location. During the White Base's travel over the Atlantic Ocean Kai began to have feelings for Miharu. But a sudden Zeon attack on the White Base over the Atlantic forced Kai to take desperate measures to protect the ship, and he and Miharu went out in a Gunperry transport plane. When the Gunperry got damaged, Miharu was forced to help fire the plane's missiles manually, but was knocked from the Gunperry by the missiles' exhaust blast, and fell to her death in the Atlantic Ocean. When Kai returned to the White Base he was much more somber, torn apart on the inside by Miharu's death. This caused a transformation in Kai. Realizing he could not stay depressed for the rest of his life, Kai came to understand that he had friends to fight for and protect if they were all to survive the war. Gryps War After the One Year War ended, Kai Shiden became a freelance journalist and investigative reporter. In UC 0087, Kai began to investigate the Titans military organization. During a covert mission to discover why the Titans were evacuating their base in Jaburo, Kai met AEUG spy Reccoa Londe who was scouting ahead of a coming AEUG attack force. However Kai and Reccoa were captured by Titans forces and imprisoned in Jaburo. Luckily they were not executed, but unbeknownst to them a nuclear bomb was set as a trap to destroy the coming AEUG forces attacking Jaburo. Fortunately AEUG pilot Kamille Bidan discovered the bomb beneath the base and was able to release Reccoa and Kai in time. With the help of former White Base pilot Hayato Kobayashi the AEUG was able to escape from Jaburo before the nuclear weapon obliterated the base. Throughout the remainder of the Gryps War Kai took a minor role, coordinating messages between the AEUG and the Karaba resistance group run by Hayato, as well as some slight information gathering. Third Neo Zeon War After the battle near Torrington Base involving the AMA-X7 Shamblo and the massacre that unfolded, he is recruited by Ronan Marcenas to dig up any information on the mysterious "Laplace's Box." He is later contacted by Bright Noa to contact the Garencieres. He later sets up a rendezvous for the Garencieres with the Nahel Argama in order to have the Unicorn Gundam safe from conspirators. Notes and Trivia *Kai's name is derived from the name of a World War II-era Japanese fighter plane, the Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden-Kai. *G Generation DS has Kai joining the AEUG later in the game as an active MS pilot, and in the events leading to the rival route (Amuro's death, for one), Kai ends awakening his Newtype powers. It's revealed that later on in the Rival Route, he's the pilot of the Nu Gundam and has the matching Hyper Mode for it. *In Gundam 0079: The War for Earth, Kai is an enlisted Federation pilot by default. Moreover, instead of the sarcastic, oftentimes cowardly facade of the original character in the animated series, he was depicted as a carefree, fun-loving individual. He is often seen chatting with Ryu Jose while on standby. Gallery File:KaiShiden.jpg File:KaiShiden-2.jpg img_1216672_37841129_0.jpeg img_1216672_37841129_1.jpeg Kai shiden illustrated by Tsukasa Kotobuki.jpg|Illustration by Tsukasa Kotobuki 343px-Srwhotnews_ace1012_p092.jpg|As seen in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Day After Tomorrow - From Kai Shiden's Report ZEUkepziWjP2zyZz7m3YvQ.jpg|Kai Shiden in U.C. 0096 15312c29f1e303db8ae0-LL.jpg 20090222184204.jpg 337px-4ffb556f75ac9cd4d138aeb65d933ee71300977270_full.jpg|As seen in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (Novel) Kai Shiden in manga Zeta Define.jpg References External Links ja:カイ・シデン